Former India skipper Sourav Ganguly has made it crystal clear that the visiting Australian team will definitely try to involve Virat Kohli in a war of words in the four-match Test series, that begins February 23.

Ganguly, who spoke to India Today regarding the highly anticipated Border Gavaskar Trophy, was stern in admitting that Australia would have a go at Kohli in a bid to distract the Indian run-machine.

Kohli’s tussles with the Australians go back a long way, as things commenced during the 2011/12 tour when the Delhi lad made his maiden Test century. The batsman was then targeted by Australian players, but has matured quite a bit since that tour. Even during the side’s previous tour Down Under, Kohli was targeted but that just fired him up as he went on to score four impeccable centuries in an exciting Test series.

“I’m not sure it’s going to make any difference to Virat Kohli. They targeted him in Australia and he came back and played superbly. For me it was the life changing series for Kohli and since then he’s been a terrific player,” said Ganguly, backing the current Indian captain.

“They might come back hard at him, they will do that in the first Test match but they’ll have to keep winning and competing as well against India because if they don’t compete then that fire power will slowly fizzle away as the series progresses,” Ganguly further elaborated.

The southpaw said Australian batsmen David Warner and Steven Smith would be the ones to watch out for in the upcoming series.

“It’s going to be tough for Australia it won’t be easy for them. Smith and Warner will have to play really really well and take the mantle of this team forward. Players like Shaun Marsh, Mitch Marsh who’ve been in this country will have to not just play well but make it a big big series. And we’ll have to wait and see whether they can do that,” he concluded.